Vingt ans après (1922)

The silent French film serial Vingt ans après/The Return of the Musketeers (1922) is the sequel to Les Trois Mousquetaires/The Three Musketeers (1921), one of the first film versions of Alexandre Dumas père's famous novel. The sequel literally plays twenty years later after Les Trois Mousquetaires. Both film versions were directed by Henri Diamant-Berger. And as they did for the film adaptation of Les Trois Mousquetaires, Cinémagazine and Pathé produced a beautiful series of sepia portrait postcards especially for Vingt ans après.


French postcard. Photo: Pathé. Publicity still for Vingt ans après/The Return of the Musketeers (Henri Diamant-Berger, 1922). Athos (Henri Rollan) and his son Raoul, played by actress Pierrette Madd.


French postcard. Photo: Pathé. Publicity still for Vingt ans après/The Return of the Musketeers (Henri Diamant-Berger, 1922). Collection: Didier Hanson.


French postcard. Photo: Pathé. Publicity still for Vingt ans après/The Return of the Musketeers (Henri Diamant-Berger, 1922). Collection: Didier Hanson.


French postcard. Photo: Pathé. Publicity still for Vingt ans après/The Return of the Musketeers (Henri Diamant-Berger, 1922). Collection: Didier Hanson.


French postcard. Photo: Pathé. Publicity still for Vingt ans après/The Return of the Musketeers (Henri Diamant-Berger, 1922). The four musketeers Porthos (Charles Martinelli), Aramis (Pierre de Guingand), Athos (Henri Rollan), and D'Artagnan (Jean Yonnel).

Alexandre Dumas

Vingt ans après literally translates as Twenty Years After, but abroad the film was also known as The Return of the Three Musketeers. It was a sequel to the successful Pathé serial Les Trois Mousquetaires/The Three Musketeers (Henri Diamant-Berger, 1921), which had been only the second adaptation of the famous adventure novel by Alexandre Dumas père, published in 1844.

Vingt ans après/The Return of the Musketeers (Henri Diamant-Berger, 1922) was also based on a novel by Alexandre Dumas père. Dumas first serialised Vingt ans après from January to August 1845. His novel follows events in France during the Fronde, during the childhood reign of Louis XIV, and in England near the end of the English Civil War, leading up to the victory of Oliver Cromwell and the execution of King Charles I.

Through the words of the main characters, particularly Athos, Dumas comes out on the side of the monarchy in general, or at least the text often praises the idea of benevolent royalty. His musketeers are valiant and just in their efforts to protect young Louis XIV and the doomed Charles I from their attackers.

Vingt ans après precedes another novel, The Vicomte of Bragelonne: Ten Years Later (Le Vicomte de Bragelonne ou Dix ans plus tard), which appeared first in serial form between 1847 and 1850.

It includes the subplot The Man in the Iron Mask about the fictive twin brother of Louis XIV, Philippe, who had been concealed and imprisoned from birth by his father, Louis XIII, and his mother, Anne of Austria, 'for the good of France'.


Pierre de Guingand as Aramis. French postcard by Cinémagazine Edition no. 43. Photo: Pathé Consortium Cinéma. Publicity still for Vingt Ans Après (1922).


Jean Yonnel as D'Artagnan. French postcard by Editions Cinémagazine Edition,  no. 45. Photo: Pathé Consortium Cinéma. Publicity still for Vingt Ans Après (1922).


Pierrette Madd as Raoul, the Vicomte de Bragelonne. French postcard by Cinémagazine Edition no. 47. Photo: Pathé Consortium Cinéma. Publicity still for Vingt Ans Après (1922).


Antoine Stacquet as Bazin, one of the aids of the musketeers. French postcard by Cinémagazine Edition, no. 50. Photo: Pathé Consortium Cinéma. Publicity still for Vingt Ans Après (1922).


Louis Pré Fils as Grimaud. French postcard by Editions Cinémagazine no. 56. Photo: Pathé Consortium Cinéma. Publicity still for Vingt ans après (1922).


Jean Daragon as De Beaufort. French postcard by Cinémagazine Edition, no. 60. Photo: Pathé Consortium Cinéma. Publicity still for Vingt Ans Après (1922).


Simone Vaudry as Henriette d'Angleterre. French postcard by Cinémagazine Edition, no. 61. Photo: Pathé Consortium Cinéma. Publicity still for Vingt Ans Après (1922).


Jean Périer as Cardinal Mazarin. French postcard by Cinémagazine Edition, no. 62. Photo: Pathé Consortium Cinéma. Publicity still for Vingt Ans Après (1922). Collection: Didier Hanson.


Édouard de Max as Monsieur de Gondi. French postcard by Cinémagazine Edition, no. 63. Photo: Pathé Consortium Cinéma. Publicity still for Vingt Ans Après (1922).


Denise Legeay as The Duchess of Longueville. French postcard by Cinémagazine Edition, no. 64. Photo: Pathé Consortium Cinéma. Publicity still for Vingt Ans Après (1922).


Jane Piérly as Henriette de France. French postcard by Editions Cinémagazine no. 65. Photo: Pathé Consortium Cinéma. Publicity still for Vingt ans après (1922).


Béatrice Bretty as La Belle Hôtelière. French postcard by Cinémagazine Edition, no. 67. Photo: Pathé Consortium. Publicity still for Vingt ans après/The Return of the Musketeers (Henri Diamant-Berger, 1922).


Maxime Desjardins as the English King Charles I. French postcard by Cinémagazine Edition, no. 68. Photo: Pathé Consortium. Publicity still for Vingt ans après/The Return of the Musketeers (Henri Diamant-Berger, 1922).


Marguerite Moreno as Queen Anne of Austria, widow of King Charles XIII. French postcard by Cinémagazine Edition, no. 69. Photo: Pathé Consortium. Publicity still for Vingt ans après/The Return of the Musketeers (Henri Diamant-Berger, 1922).

The last reunion of the Four Musketeers

The film version of Vingt ans après/The Return of the Musketeers (1922) starts under Queen Anne of Austria regency and Cardinal Mazarin ruling. D'Artagnan, who seemed to have a promising career ahead of him at the end of The Three Musketeers, has for twenty years remained a lieutenant in the Musketeers. He seems unlikely to progress, despite his ambition and the debt the queen owes him.

By chance, however, he is summoned by Cardinal Mazarin (Jean Périer), who requires an escort, as the French people detest Mazarin, and are on the brink of rebellion (La Fronde).

D'Artagnan is sent to the Bastille to retrieve a prisoner, who turns out to be his former adversary, the Comte de Rochefort. But De Rochefort escapes. D'Artagnan goes searching for his old friends, and the four musketeers are reunited for one more time.

Pathé Frères again produced the film and Henri Diamant-Berger returned as director. D'Artagnan was not played by Aimé Simon-Girard this time. Jean Yonnel replaced him.

The other three musketeers of the original cast returned: Henri Rollan as Athos, Pierre de Guingand as Aramis and Charles Martinelli as Porthos. Other actors who returned were Édouard de Max (Richelieu) and Armand Bernard (D'Artagnan's servant Planchet).

They were joined in Vingt ans après by Marguerite Moreno as Anne of Austria, Jean Périer as Mazarin, Simone Vaudry as Henriette d'Angleterre, and Béatrice Bretty as a beautiful in-keeper.


French postcard. Photo: Pathé. Publicity still for Vingt ans après/The Return of the Musketeers (Henri Diamant-Berger, 1922). Right front, small Antoine Stacquet as Bazin and tall Louis Pré Fils as Grimaud. Left in the back the three musketeers and D'Artagnan.


French postcard. Photo: Pathé. Publicity still for Vingt ans après/The Return of the Musketeers (Henri Diamant-Berger, 1922). Marguerite Moreno as Queen-Mother Anne of Austria, Jean Périer as Cardinal Mazarin, and Henri Rollan as Athos.


French postcard. Photo: Pathé. Publicity still for Vingt ans après/The Return of the Musketeers (Henri Diamant-Berger, 1922). Jean Yonnel as D'Artagnan, Charles Martinelli as Porthos, and Jean Périer as Cardinal Mazarin.


French postcard. Photo: Pathé. Publicity still for Vingt ans après/The Return of the Musketeers (Henri Diamant-Berger, 1922). Pictured are (possibly) Béatrice Bretty as La Belle Hôtelière, Jean Yonnel as D'Artagnan, and Armand Bernard as Planchet.


French postcard. Photo: Pathé. Publicity still for Vingt ans après/The Return of the Musketeers (Henri Diamant-Berger, 1922). The girl dressed up a boy is Pierrette Madd (Vicomte de Bragelonne).


French postcard. French postcard. Photo: Pathé. Publicity still for Vingt ans après/The Return of the Musketeers (Henri Diamant-Berger, 1922). Athos presents his son, the Vicomte de Bragelonne, to the Queen.


French postcard. Photo: Pathé. Publicity still for Vingt ans après/The Return of the Musketeers (Henri Diamant-Berger, 1922). Cromwellian soldiers in battle. This card made publicity on the retro for the screening of this film at the Pathé-Palace cinema in Brussels, Bd. Anspach, where it first ran 12-18 January 1923.


French postcard. French postcard. Photo: Pathé. Publicity still for Vingt ans après/The Return of the Musketeers (Henri Diamant-Berger, 1922). The henchman collecting Charles I.


French postcard. French postcard. Photo: Pathé. Publicity still for Vingt ans après/The Return of the Musketeers (Henri Diamant-Berger, 1922). The execution of king Charles I on 30 January 1649 in London.


French postcard. French postcard. Photo: Pathé. Publicity still for Vingt ans après/The Return of the Musketeers (Henri Diamant-Berger, 1922).


French postcard. Photo: Pathé. Publicity still for Vingt ans après/The Return of the Musketeers (Henri Diamant-Berger, 1922). The woman dressed up as a man in the middle is ;Pierrette Madd, who plays the Vicomte de Bragelonne, son of Athos.


French postcard. Photo: Pathé. Publicity still for Vingt ans après/The Return of the Musketeers (Henri Diamant-Berger, 1922). Collection: Didier Hanson.


French postcard. French postcard. Photo: Pathé. Publicity still for Vingt ans après/The Return of the Musketeers (Henri Diamant-Berger, 1922). Porthos and Planchet [?].


French postcard. Photo: Pathé. Publicity still for Vingt ans après/The Return of the Musketeers (Henri Diamant-Berger, 1922). Collection: Didier Hanson.


French postcard. French postcard. Photo: Pathé. Publicity still for Vingt ans après/The Return of the Musketeers (Henri Diamant-Berger, 1922).


French postcard. Photo: Pathé. Publicity still for Vingt ans après/The Return of the Musketeers (Henri Diamant-Berger, 1922). Collection: Didier Hanson.


French postcard. Photo: Pathé. Publicity still for Vingt ans après/The Return of the Musketeers (Henri Diamant-Berger, 1922). Collection: Didier Hanson.


French postcard. Photo: Pathé. Publicity still for Vingt ans après/The Return of the Musketeers (Henri Diamant-Berger, 1922).

Sources: Wikipedia and IMDb.

Pierrette Madd

Pierrette Madd (1893 - 1967) was a French operetta singer, who had a short-lived career in the French silent films of Henri Diamant-Berger.


French postcard by Editions Cinémagazine, no. 17. Photo: Pathé Consortium Cinéma. Publicity still of Pierrette Madd as Constance Bonacieux in Les Trois Mousquetaires/The Three Musketeers (1921).

Kidnapped and Imprisoned
Pierrette Madd was born Paulette Poggionovo in 1893 in Charenton, in what is now the Val-de-Marne region of France. She started her career as a singer in small-town theatres in the early 1910's. At the end of the First World War, however, she had her breakthrough in the French capital, performing as Madame Phidias in the operetta Phi Phi by Albert Willemetz and with costumes by the young Pol Rab. The premiere at the Bouffes–Parisiens took place just after the armistice of 11 November 1918. The operetta was a merry version of ancient Greece, in which Phi Phi not only hinted at sculptor Phidias but at Philosophy as well. Madd made her film debut in the short Polin reste garcon (1916), starring vaudeville actor Polin. She had her first major film role, and immediately her breakthrough, as Constance Bonacieux in Henri Diamant-Berger’s twelve episodes serial Les Trois Mousquetaires/The Three Musketeers (1921), based on the famous novel by Alexandre Dumas père. Constance is the beloved of D’Artagnan (Aimé Simon-Girard) and the go-between Queen Anne and D’Artagnan, but Richelieu (Édouard de Max) has her kidnapped and imprisoned in a convent. The treacherous Milady De Winter (Claude Merelle) kills Constance, but she herself will be caught by the Musketeers and be beheaded.


French postcard by Editions Cinémagazine, no. 47. Photo: Pathé Consortium. Publicity still of Pierrette Madd as Raoul, the Vicomte de Bragelonne in Vingt ans après (1922, Henri Diamant-Berger).

Boy
Pierrette Madd’s film career would remain exclusively linked to that of Henri Diamant-Berger, who, after the succes of his first musketeers film for Pathé, was backed to make two 'sequels'. Madd performed in both. In Vingt ans après/Twenty Years Later (1922, Henri Diamant-Berger) she played the boy Raoul, the son of Athos and Madame de Chevreuse and the future Vicomte de Bragelonne – even if IMDb says otherwise. In 1923 she was also seen in Milady (1923, Henri Diamant-Berger). Although IMDb describes this as a new film, it was in fact a feature-length compilation of the serial Les Trois Mousquetaires/The Three Musketeers (1921). Around 1923 Diamant-Berger started his own firm, Les Films Diamant, for which Madd worked as well. Madd had a supporting act in the comedy Gonzague (1923, Henri Diamant-Berger), starring Maurice Chevalier as a fake piano tuner in love with a girl (Florelle). Madd then played the female lead in L’Emprise/The Temptation (1924, Henri Diamant-Berger), with co-acting of Pierre de Guingand, the former Aramis in Les Trois Mousquetaires. Madd played a woman who is too fond of gambling while her husband is away and brings herself in serious trouble. That same year Madd had the female lead in the aviation drama Le Roi de la vitesse/The King of Speed (1924, Henri Diamant-Berger), again starring Pierre de Guingand, who also had written the script. Two men (Guingand and Sadi Lecointe) fight not only for the aviation cup, but also for the hand of a rich American woman (Madd) who is the president of the cup contest. Madd's last film, according to the sources, was L’Accordeur (1923, Henri Diamant-Berger), but as ‘accordeur’ means piano tuner, this probably was the same film as Gonzague.


French postcard. Photo: Cliché Pathé. Publicity still for Vingt ans après/The Return of the Musketeers (1922, Henri Diamant-Berger) with Athos (Henry Rollan) and his son Raoul (Pierrette Madd).

Newsreel
After this Pierrette Madd ended her film career - perhaps caused by Diamant-Berger's stay in the US in 1924-1926 - but she continued on stage. Madd also recorded songs, as in 1925 the song Ça c’est gentil, sung together with Antonin Berval in the musical comedy Pas sur la bouche (1925, Maurice Yvain, André Barde). Other operettas she was in were Un bon garcon (1926, A Good Boy), starring Milton, Ma femme (1927, My Wife) and Le Garçon de chez Prunier (1933). In 1967, Pierrette Madd died in Cannes, at the age of 74. She was the elder sister of singer and stage actress Jane Pierly (Jeanne Poggionovo), who had played Henriette de France in Vingt ans après. After her fiction films of the early 1920's, Pierrette Madd was briefly visible in a Pathé newsreel of December 1926, in which 9 French actresses including Madd showed new bags made from old textiles selected at antiquarians.

Hear Pierrette Madd sing with Berval Ca c’est gentil (1925). Source: Ingoknutschalex (YouTube).

Sources: Regie Theatrale (French), la Comedie Musicale 1918 - 1940 (French), Fondation Jerome Seydoux, and IMDb.